History

The very maneuverable Nieuport 17 was powered by a 110hp LeRhone rotary engine and was fitted with a synchronized firing system allowed the pilot to fire the Vickers gun through the propeller arc. The Nieuport 17 was used by France, Italy, Russia and several other countries from the summer of 1916 to the spring of 1918.

Construction

The kit goes together very well and the fact that it is a “Weekend Edition” helps in the construction. I started with the cockpit and fuselage interior using a dark brown for the mahogany sides and a lighter brown for the cockpit floor and seat. I painted the available details on the cockpit sidewall with silver and a black wash. I continued by painting the engine, mating the fuselage sides and opening the control line holes in the tail and gluing the tail to the fuselage.

Next, I painted the fuselage and lower wings silver and the upper wings Tamiya “Red Brown” with bands of Misterkit French “Grey Green” and drilled the holes for the rigging. I glued the top wing on after adding the struts and used monofilament for the rigging lines. One note, I had to consult other references for the rigging diagram as the Eduard instructions had an incomplete rigging diagram. Finally I cut the excess rigging line, cleaned up the exit holes by filling, sanding and painting and added all of the decals.

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